Saturday, November 17, 2012

Counting our blessings

When a lot of stuff starts happening, my tendency is to try to keep it to myself until it resolves. You know what happens then? NO blogging. Dumb.

We found out about 2-1/2 weeks ago that my dad's chemo hasn't been helping. His tumors are larger, and have even spread. He has been referred to palliative care, which isn't hospice, but is much more focused on keeping him comfortable, and less worried about him becoming hooked on painkillers, etc. He will begin a new chemo regimen next week to see if will slow down his cancer's growth.

Realizing that things are moving kind of fast, my brother and sister in law booked a trip for my mom and dad to go with them to Hawaii...leaving on 11/9. This is a bucket list item for my dad. He had a real hard time on the long flight there, and actually had to be hospitalized the first 3 days of their trip. But the last 5 days have been wonderful for them. My dad got to spend time at the ocean, see the Hawaiian sights, and fly in a helicopter over beautiful waterfalls, etc.

Meanwhile at home, we've had major construction work going on, to make the house more comfortable for Dad. We've had a window to the backyard replaced with french doors, and a stamped concrete patio poured outside it, so he has a nice easy way to enjoy the outdoors. We've had their tub removed and a shower installed. The edge of the tub was too high for dad to step over comfortably. We had the end of our driveway smoothed out so it won't be so painful for Dad to ride over it.

And then besides that, we're going to school, of course. We're sliding into finals time...but first...we are off ALL of next week. I feel like I'm getting a cold, so I'm definitely glad that I've got some time to rest and recover.